UPDATE: Our Sheriff Posted This...and is Still in Office

As I wrote last week, our sheriff in Adams Co., PA apparently posted the image below on his Facebook page on the morning of the nationwide “No Kings” events of June 14.

This appeared on Adams Co., PA Sheriff james Muller’s FB page on 6/14, the day of NO KINGS protests…Nevertheless an estimated 2,000 turned out to exercise their first amendment rights in a peacefull and orderly fashion, as many of them have been doing for an hour every Saturday (noon till 1pm) since April under a valid permit issued by the borough. There have been no incidents or disorder. Just determination and camaraderie. And despite the Sheriff’s apparent provocation, no harm to the protesters beyond a few middle fingers and foul comments.

…AND HE STILL HAS HIS JOB !!

I was in the Pacific Northwest visiting family when this post appeared, but when i learned of it I researched the possibility of organizing a Recall vote, only to discover that PA was among the (many) states without such a provision.¹

I am informed by one local official that the state senate, or our governor, could remove him, with either path requiring a 70% vote in the PA senate. With 28 of the state’s 50 senators being Republican, as my contact said, “not gonna happen.”

Five college students who grew up in the Gettysburg area called for Adams County Sheriff James Muller's resignation during a county commissioners' meeting on Wednesday, June 25, 2025. (Commissioners can’t remove central Pa. sheriff despite ‘deplorable’ social media post: solicitor -Jenna Wise, for PennLive)Jenna Wise)

That’s especially true, because our state senator is Doug Mastriano, who was a key player in the “Stop the Steal” sham, and who used campaign funds to send several busloads of thugs to the January 6 insurrection. Video also caught him on the Capitol steps during the insurrection.² So he ain’t gonna initiate it…but I’ll call his office and demand he do and see what the reaction is.

The sheriff has been mum, though he took down the post.

The “Sheriff” web page on the Adams county Government site lists the Sheriff's Office: Vision, Mission and, Values .

Only he knows it was a bad joke in eminently poor taste, or a true reflection of his thinking — or even worse — a suggestion…regardless it says something about his values. And they cannot be consistent with that statement of mission and values.

He’s not running for office again, so voters won’t have their day in court with him this November. How that woulda turned out woulda been interesting. This is a deep red county — went 66% for Trump in both ‘20 and ‘24.

1. PA is one of 22 states that do not allow a recall petition and vote for local officials. (https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_governing_recall)

2. Between the election and the January 6 certification, Mastriano:

- Wrote to the Justice Department spreading debunked claims of fraud.

- Organized an unofficial “hearing” in Gettysburg, at which Trump and Rudy Giuliani made false claims about election fraud.

- Spent more than $3,000 from his campaign account to charter buses to Washington ahead of the January 6 “Stop the Steal” rally that preceded the attack on the Capitol.

These transgressions were reported in real time, and memorialized in the US Senate Judiciary Committee report on the 2020 election, which states:“Doug Mastriano, a Republican State Senator…participated in Rudy Giuliani’s so-called election fraud ‘hearings,’ spent thousands of dollars from his campaign account to bus people to the January 6 ‘Save America Rally,’ and was present on the Capitol grounds as the insurrection unfolded…like Perry [our district’s US Rep at the time], Mastriano directly communicated with [the Department of Justice]…about his false election fraud claims….He and his wife took part in the January 6 insurrection, with video footage confirming that they passed through breached barricades and police lines at the US Capitol”.